case study | The New York Times Building, New York, NY
Quantum® total light management
“We designed our building to use
1.28 watts per square foot of lighting
power. With Quantum , it’s only
using 0.396 — that’s about 70% less.”
®
Glenn Hughes, Director of Construction for The New York Times Company
during design, installation, and commissioning of The New York Times Building
This facility saves over $600,000 each
year by managing light with Quantum*.
The New York Times Building, New York, NY, USA
Green Facts
Buildings
Square Feet
Lighting Fixtures
Lighting Energy Savings
Annual CO2 Reduction 1
over 600,000 gross sq. ft.
over 15,000
approximately 70%
over 3,200 metric tons
*The savings are based on actual lighting usage for the full year
of 2009 (annual average lighting power of 0.396 watts per
square foot) compared to the installed code-compliant lighting
power of 1.28 watts per square foot. The dollars are calculated
using a New York City commercial electricity rate of $0.18
per kWh (source: ConEdison). CO2 reduction is based on 1.9
pounds of CO2 prevented per kWh saved (source: Weighted
average of fossil fuel energy sources from page 2 of a U.S.
Department of Energy carbon dioxide emissions report in July
2000 http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/page/co2_report/
co2emiss.pdf).
Lutron’s Quantum solution makes
“front-page” news within The New York
Times Company for creating a dynamic
and energizing work environment and
for delivering nearly 70% energy savings.
Details can be found at www.lutron.com/nyt.
Hughes asserts that, based on current NYC code
(1.0 watts/sf lighting power density) and a New
York City commercial building electricity rate of
$0.18 per kWh, the savings opportunity from
using Quantum is approximately $1 per square
foot per year.
All eyes in the architectural and green communities
remain on the 52-story headquarters of The
New York Times Company as its Quantum total
light management system continues to outdo
itself in energy efficiency, saving the company
significant money.
In addition to these savings, there is a derivative
effect from Quantum on the HVAC system energy
performance. The dramatically reduced output
levels of the lighting system means that less heat
load is created by the lights, which means the air
conditioning system works less, further reducing
energy use in the building.
An analysis of the full year’s data for 2009 shows
the Quantum system continues to achieve
dramatic energy savings, claims Glenn Hughes,
presently an international energy consultant.
Hughes says, “total light management represents
the single greatest opportunity for energy savings
in commercial buildings, whether retrofit or new
construction projects.”
“The energy savings are stunning,” says Hughes.
“Lutron’s Quantum total lighting management
system has delivered an absolutely over-the-top
performance. When I talk with other construction
and lighting consultants, they’re astonished at
the results.”
Lighting Power Usage 2009
The New York Times Building
Lighting Power Density (watts per sq. ft.)
1.400
1.200
1.000
Approximately 70%
Energy Savings with Quantum*
0.800
(compared to lights on at full power)
0.600
0.400
Energy Used
0.200
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
“ Total light management represents the single greatest
opportunity for energy savings in commercial buildings,
whether retrofit or new construction projects.”
—Glenn Hughes, Director of Construction for The New York Times Company during design,
installation and commissioning of The New York Times Building
One of the most important features of the
system is the robust database that collects
system performance details continuously.
This enables the user to analyze and optimize
system performance. Hughes indicates that
the data recently evaluated for 2009 shows
consistent performance with earlier results.
The system began with tremendous results
and continues to deliver the same performance
now more than two years since start-up.
Average lighting power density for all The
New York Times Company space in 2009 was
0.396 watts/sq. ft. Peak lighting power density
(the single worst hour of the year for 2009)
was 0.76 watts/sq. ft.
Putting this into perspective, Glenn says that
this peak represents 40% better performance
than the original design. He also presents this
data to the design community and challenges
them to design the lighting systems to levels
well below code because we know it can be
accomplished, citing the building’s performance
as the evidence. In fact, the American Institute
of Architects has taken the stand that for the
next decade, architecture should be influenced
by evidence-based design.
Hughes says that the story doesn’t end by
looking at energy savings alone. Quantum®
dramatically improved the lighting environment
inside The New York Times Building. According
to Hughes, assuming a mere 1% increase in
productivity (a conservative estimate), from the
improved lighting environment, the Quantum
system paid for itself in less than a year. He
also emphasizes that this value-add goes
on year after year.
First published in 1851, The New York Times
has long enjoyed pride of place among all news
organizations in the United States. The Times
is a time-tested institution operating in the
American media capital and the most fabled
city of the modern world where supremacy is
the norm. It’s an organization that understands
that what it says and does reverberates across
many borders.
It’s no surprise, then, that when the newspaper’s
parent company, The New York Times Company,
a global media enterprise, decided to build a new
headquarters in Manhattan, it eschewed the idea
of maintaining a passive role in the project. The
company resolved to exercise control at every
stage of the project’s design and construction
processes, ensuring that the new building
accurately represented its corporate culture
and values, and reaped real business benefits
for the company.
“We desired an interior environment that allowed
our employees to be as comfortable as possible
and that would reinforce our company’s
emphasis on open communication, collaboration
and transparency,” said David Thurm, former
Sr. Vice President of the Times Company.
“ The whole building structure is designed for maximum light. The number
one priority was to allow natural light to make our employees feel more
comfortable and to produce an energizing work environment.”
—David Thurm, former Sr. Vice President, The New York Times Company
To accomplish these objectives, the Times
Company hired the world-renowned architect
Renzo Piano, along with two major architectural
firms, FXFOWLE of New York, and Gensler,
headquartered in San Francisco. The Times
Company also employed the lighting design
services of SBLD Studio of New York.
The result is a dazzling 52-story tower with 1.5
million gross square feet. The building is a mix
of office and retail. Its chief attributes are open
spaces and floor-to-ceiling glass walls that
provide building occupants wide views of the
neighboring skyscrapers and, conversely,
allow outsiders to look in.
The importance of lighting controls was
recognized by the Times Company from the
start. Executives extensively researched the
state-of-the-art lighting control options to satisfy
their twin desires for daylight harvesting and
for the flexibility to reconfigure spaces easily
and simply. The word “extensively” is not used
loosely. As Thurm himself described in an article
published in the Harvard Business Review,
virtually every decision fell under tight scrutiny
to drive innovation and to avoid what he called,
“well-intentioned guesses by others as to what
you want.”
“When you have a client interested in exploring
new territories it is very exciting,” said Edward
Wood, Principal and Design Director for
Gensler—the interior architect for NYT.
“The entire project was a big research study.”
Another Gensler principal echoes that sentiment:
“Because they are a media organization, they are
very research-oriented, very probing, always
asking a lot of questions and challenging the
status quo,” said Rocco Giannetti, AIA.
The research eventually gravitated to the Building
Technologies Department at the Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory at the University of
California. With guidance from the Berkeley Lab,
the project design team, and manufacturers, the
Times Company built a replica of the southwest
corner of its new building at one of its printing
facilities in Queens, New York. For six months,
from winter solstice to summer solstice, the
mock-up tested an array of different lighting
technologies and products from a variety of
manufacturers—including a new technology
just emerging from Lutron Electronics Co. Inc.
Hughes estimates that the lighting energy
savings achieved by The New York Times
is primarily from the following strategies:
20% Daylight harvesting
dimming electric lights when
daylight is available
35% Occupancy sensing
turning off lights when
spaces are vacant
45% Light level tuning
setting the appropriate
light level for each space
Source: Lutron Electronics Co., Inc.
The testing, plus Lutron’s response to a
competitive bid, convinced the Times Company
to select Lutron’s Quantum® light management
solution for its office space. Quantum employs a
number of different strategies—including daylight
control, occupant control, target set point control
(light level tuning), time clock control, and
emergency lighting control —to give building
occupants maximum comfort, and to give
business owners the flexibility to adapt their
work environments to meet changing business
requirements. Quantum also features software
to control, monitor, and report on the lighting
usage in the building.
“What we have achieved with our building is
spectacular,” said Thurm. “But any office space
eventually needs to move in different directions
and this lighting system gives us the flexibility to
change as we see fit.”
With Quantum, the daylight sensors make
the most of natural light pouring into a space,
continually and imperceptibly adjusting the electric
light levels accordingly– all the while maintaining
a consistent overall light level as set for the
people working in that space.
“With all the daylight coming in, the avoidance of
glare was a crucial issue to the client,” said Attila
Uysal, Principal and Technical Director of the
lighting design firm, Susan Brady Lighting Design
Studio. “Lutron’s involvement from the beginning
was invaluable.They understood that the ‘quality’
of the lighting mattered as much as anything—and
they were able to deliver a highly sophisticated
digital lighting system with a very powerful control
software tool that’s easy to use and that carried
the clients’ wishes to the nth degree. Everyone
was impressed.”
Uysal said every floor’s lighting scheme is divided
into zones, each with its own lighting levels that
fit the needs of the employees (depending on
what type of work they perform) and based on
the amount of daylight that penetrates that
space. Over 15,000 digitally addressable
EcoSystem® ballasts were used to achieve
that kind of precision, according to Hughes.
The Times Company executives report increased
employee satisfaction.
Lighting is a vital component of any construction
project, serving as a favorite ‘form and function’
instrument of architects designing a space. It
reveals volume, area, ideas of scale, and it
allows a building’s occupants to interact with
their environment. As such, it affects workers’
comfort levels and, in turn, their productivity.
However, as any building owner or tenant can
attest, this function comes at a steep price:
the cost of electricity.
“As a company,” Thurm said, “we intuitively
understood that, if we were going to work in
a building with so much outer glass, we had
to keep a rein on our energy consumption.
That helps our bottom line but also is the
environmentally responsible thing to do.”
Employee comfort, increased productivity,
reduced energy usage, and ease and flexibility
of use—is there a big story here? The New York
Times Company already has decided.
For more information,
visit www.lutron.com/nyt
Project Credits:
Architects
Renzo Piano Building Workshop
Genoa, Italy
Renzo Piano
FXFOWLE ARCHITECTS
New York, NY
Bruce Fowle, FAIA, LEED,
Senior Principal
Dan Kaplan, AIA, LEED,
Senior Principal
Lighting Designer
SBLD Studio
New York, NY
Susan Brady, President/
Design Principal
Attila Uysal, Principal/
Technical Director
Zengwei Fu, Senior
Project Manager
Wen Yaun Lin, Senior
Project Manager
Interior Architect
Gensler
New York, NY
Robin Klehr Avia, FIDA,
Managing Principal
Rocco Giannetti, AIA,
Principal/Project Manager
Edward Wood, RA,
Design Principal
E.J. Lee,
Principal/Design Director
Oliver Schaper, LEED AP,
CDT, Designer
Naoko Oguro, IIDA, NCIDQ,
CID, Interior Designer
Tom Lanzelotti, RA, Principal/
Technical Director
Patricia Aponte, CDT,
Job Captain
Aylin Cinarli
Rina Consuelo Parado, AIA
Susana Su-Tom
Equipment Manufacturer
Lutron Electronics Co., Inc.
Coopersburg, PA
Electrical Contractors
Fred Geller Electrical, Inc.
New York, NY
Unity Electric Co., Inc.
New York, NY
Electrical Engineer
WSP Flack + Kurtz
New York, NY
Fred Holdorf, LC, LEED AP,
Vice President
Construction Manager
Turner Construction Company
New York, NY
www.lutron.com
Lutron Electronics Co., Inc.
7200 Suter Road
Coopersburg, PA 18036-1299
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Technical Support Center 1.800.523.9466
Customer Service 1.888.LUTRON1
All photos © Nic Lehoux
© 09/2010 Lutron Electronics Co., Inc. I Made and printed in the U.S.A. I P/N 367-1413 REV C